Karnataka CM conducts aerial survey of flood-hit region

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday conducted aerial inspection of flood-hit districts of North Karnataka, where several villages were inundated following increased outflow from reservoirs across the Krishna and its tributaries in Maharashtra.

He flew by a special plane from the HAL airport here to Toranagal airstrip in Ballari, from where proceeded to Bagalkote, Raichur, Vijayapura and Yadgiri to get a first-hand assessment of the situation, official sources told PTI.

The Krishna, Malaprabha, Markandeya rivers and a few other rivulets are in spate submerging thousands of hectares of land in Belagavi, Bagalkote, Raichur, Vijayapura and Yadgir.

Huge amount of water had been released from the Koyna and four other dams in Maharashra which were reportedly full to the brim.

As a result, the Almatti dam on Krishna river in Karnataka and three to four barrages on its upper regions were completely filled and excess water was released, the director of the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre G S Srinivasa Reddy said.

The increased water outflow caused flooding in the lower regions leading to thousands of hectares of land being submerged and the standing crops in parts of the region completely destroyed, sources said.